Not Far From The Kingdom-Mark 12:28-34

As we begin this morning, please turn in your copies of God’s Word to Mark 12. We will read from 28-34 shortly, so have it marked and ready.

Last Sunday morning we looked at 2 of 4 phases of tests Jesus was faced with in Mark 11 and 12. Which means we have now looked at 3 of the 4 questions set up by the Sanhedrin to trap Jesus into saying something that would either put Him at odds with the people, or with the Roman government. The first came from the Sanhedrin itself, at the middle of chapter 11, when they questioned Jesus on what and who gave Him the authority to do the things He had been doing. Their question was specifically regarding His cleansing of the Temple the day before. We looked at the next 2 questions last week. Question 2 came from the Pharisees regarding whether it was right or not to pay taxes to Caesar. Followed by question 3 from the Sadducees on the resurrection. Jesus masterfully handled each question. The only segment of the Sanhedrin who had yet to weigh in with a trap question was the Scribes. Scribes were legal experts, teachers of the law. They were professional scholars who specialized in interpretation and application of the Law of Moses, the Old Testament and rabbinic regulations.

With that as an introduction, would you please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word?

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Mark 12:28–34 ESV

28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

In Matthews account of this event, we find that the:

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Pharisees Put Their Collective Hypocritical Heads Together. Mt. 22:34

Jesus brilliant answer to both the Pharisees and then to the Sadducees had angered and impressed them. They were particularly impressed with His handling of the question from the Sadduccees. As we discovered last Sunday morning, the Pharisees, Sadduccees and Scribes were reluctant team members on the 70 member Sanhedrin. The Pharisees and Scribes got along well, in fact most of the Scribes were also Pharisees, but neither of these 2 groups got along with the Sadduccees. The question the Sadduccees tested Jesus with, was a question they had put before the Scribes and Pharisees too many times to count, and they were never able to answer the Sadduccees challenge. The Scribes and Pharisees applauded Jesus answer, not because they were moving to the point of following Jesus, but because they knew they could now use Jesus answer from this point forward.

So, right after Jesus brilliantly answered the Sadduccees question, the Pharisees huddled together to come up with one more challenge to Jesus. Based on what we see in Mark, we get the impression that the Scribe that brought the question, was far less hostile in, not only his question, but in the manner in which he questioned Jesus. This is pure speculation on my part, but my guess is, that this Scribe didn’t exactly approach Jesus in a way they wanted. He appears to bring with him a sense or respect, even admiration. Still, the question was a challenging one. There were 613 commandments recorded in the first 5 books of the Old Testament, 248 positive commands-as in “You are to do this” and 365 negative commands-in other words “Do not do this”. Additionally, they had also separated the commands into heavy laws that were absolutely mandatory, and lesser commands that were less imperative. This was not a bad thing, Jesus Himself, separated the commands into similar divisions. We see this in Matthew 23:23 where He attacks the Pharisees for their handling of the commands of God. Their problem wasn’t that they put more weight on some commands over the others, it was that the made the weightier commands, the ones they could fulfill easily, as well as the ones that made them look the best in front of the people. Look at Jesus rebuke of them in Matthew 23:23:

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Matthew 23:23 ESV

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

The tithe for them was, not only easier, but it was very public, very visible. Jesus highlights the way they gave in the instructions He gives in the Sermon on the Mount, which we find in Matthew 5-7. In the first 4 verses of chapter 6, He says; “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven 2Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Their obedience to the commands of God was not, in any way, for the eyes.....for the pleasure of God, it was for the eyes of man and it was for their own personal pleasure, which they receive through the praise of men. As a result, the only reward they would receive was the temporary praises of men, not the eternal rewards that the Father gives. Notice at the beginning of verse 28 that this is the first instance that a group doesn’t bring a question to Jesus. Here, it is one scribe.

His question was an important question. There had been a lot of discussions among the experts in what commandments were the most important. Just 20 years before Jesus, one of the most respected of all Rabbi’s, Rabbi Hillel summarized all of the commands by saying “What you would not want done to you, do not do to your neighbor.” It is kind of the negative side of our Golden Rule. In looking through the history of the Jews, both before and after Jesus, it is hard to get a consensus on what is the greatest command. This was a logical question.

There are some Biblical scholars that believe that the purpose behind the question was that the Scribes and Pharisees saw Jesus teaching so unorthodox compared to theirs, that the were certain that He would completely ignore the Law of Moses and come up with one of His own commands. If that happened, it would be easy to accuse Him of being a heretic, which would put Him at odds with the people and open the door for Him being stoned.

Instead, Jesus goes to Deuteronomy 6:4-5, to the command known as the Shema. Next Slide

Mark 12:29–30 ESV

29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

This command was, and is, so important to Jews that it is recited at the beginning and end of each day, to this day. It is, to the Jew, at least as important as the Lord’s Prayer is to the Christian.

The importance of this command is seen in the timing of its original delivery. At the time Moses was 120 years old and quickly approaching his death. Because of disobedience, the Jews had wondered in the wilderness for 40 years, until the time that every adult that left Egypt had died, except for 3, Moses, Joshua and Caleb. And of them, Moses would also not see the Promised Land, at least not at that time. As far as we know, the first time Moses ever set foot in the Promised Land was what we looked at in Mark 9 on the Mount of Transfiguration. When he and Elijah appeared with Jesus. When Moses delivered this command, the Nation of Israel was on the far side of the Jordan River. Moses then took the time to go back over the Law for the children of those who perished in the wilderness, who were now adults. That is what is taking place in the Book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means second law, as Moses is reviewing the Law with the Nation before he dies and they then cross the Jordan River, into the Promised Land. Moses is delivering a sacred challenge to the current Jews that their parent failed to deliver on. To a certain degree, Moses is telling them, “Do yourself a favor, learn from the mistakes from your parents that died in the wilderness.”

In some ways Jesus is doing the same thing as He, through His death, which would take place in 2 days, would be establishing a New Covenant, with His blood. Like Moses, Jesus is challenging His listeners, including this Scribe, to learn from the mistakes of those that came before them. Those who picked and chose what they would follow, those who put their own desires ahead of doing the will of God. He is saying, don’t do what they did, instead, do this.

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The Greatest Commandment. Vs. 29-30; Mt. 22:37

To start with, the greatest command begins with love. As you might expect, the Greek word Jesus uses for love comes from the verb agapao, which is the love of intelligence, of the will, of purpose, choice, sacrifice and obedience.

But there is another key word I don’t want us to miss, and neither did Jesus. He repeats it 4 times in verse 30. Look at your copies of God’s Word, what do you see as the key word He repeats 4 times? (all) You may want to underline or highlight that word. It is repeated to emphasize the necessity of a total response of love to the lordship of God. He gave His all for us, and His expectation is that we will be willing to give our all for Him.

So, based on Jesus use of the word all, our love for God is to encompass 4 areas of who we are. As we discuss these 4 areas, I want to give some clarification on one tiny word, one we could easily overlook in our English language, but in the original Greek there is more power, a greater impact. The word is “with”. With in the Greek means “out of”. It stresses the source of the love. Our love for God must arise out of every area of who we are. To begin with, it must flow “out of” our: Next Slide

We are to love God with all our heart.

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For those present that day, they would have understood the “heart” to mean “the core of a person’s identity, the source of all their thoughts, words, and actions. It is the hub of his existence, everything revolves around the heart.

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We are to love God with all our soul.

The soul adds the individuals emotions, our soul would be the seat of our emotions. Next Slide

We are to love God with all our mind.

The mind would be the center of our intellect, it embraces our will, our intentions, and purposes. Next Slide

We are to love God with all our strength.

Strength refers to our physical energy and function. It is putting our physical strength and activity behind our love. Love means nothing if it is not followed by actions.

Putting all these things together;

“the command of the Law is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy powers—with a sincere, a fervid, an intelligent, an energetic love.” But this is not all that the Law demands. God will have all these qualities in their most perfect exercise. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” says the Law, “with all thy heart,” or, with perfect sincerity; “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul,” or, with the utmost fervor; “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy mind,” or, in the fullest exercise of an enlightened reason; and “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy strength,” or, with the whole energy of our being!” (Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 85). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.)

If you go back to the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20, you will see that this first and greatest command sums up the first 4 Commandments God gave to Moses. The first four commandments deal with the vertical, man’s relationship with God.

While the Scribe only asked for the Greatest Commandment, Jesus gives him a bonus answer. He includes the 2nd greatest commandment. Next Slide

The Next Greatest Commandment. Vs. 31; Mt. 22:39

The truth of the matter was, the religious leaders of Jesus day could have easily fooled the people into thinking they had a love for God. After-all, their lives revolved around the religious life. They memorized much of the Old Testament, they wore special religious outfits, the regularly studied the Law, they obeyed the Law fastidiously, they practically lived in the Temple or Synagogues. Outwardly, you would have been convinced that they had a great love for God. But inwardly, it was all for show. Jesus makes this very clear in verses 38-40, which we will probably look at next week. I believe that Jesus adds this second great commandment, to show both the religious leaders as well as the common people that the religious leaders were nothing more than hypocrites. Jesus makes it clear that love for God and love for others are inseparable. You can’t have one without the other. The Apostle John make this clear in 1 John 4:20;

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1 John 4:20 ESV

20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

The religious leaders cared only for themselves, and anyone who paid much attention to them knew this well.

Jesus was calling His listeners to a radical love, but what exactly does a radical love encompass?

Perhaps the best definition of love that I have seen goes like this; Next Slide

Love is an act of the will, whereby I choose to give of myself to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of another, without expecting anything in return.

As you look at this definition of love, there are a few keys to note. First, it is an Act of the will-that means it doesn’t come naturally. Which is why we see the second key to note; we choose to give of ourselves-which means that there are times that sacrifice is involved. And the needs we are wanting to meet are 3-fold; physical, emotional & spiritual. And lastly, we do all of this without expecting anything in return. That is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to a godly love, we do all these things without expecting anything in return.

While the Greatest Commandment, a love for God, summed up the first 4 of the 10 commandments, this second great commandment summed up the last 6, as the last 6 commandments dealt with man’s relationship with others, others who were created in the image of God.

Mark 9–16: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary The Response (12:29–31)

The Lord’s point is that we are to have the same love and care for neighbors, strangers, and enemies that we possess for ourselves.

Jesus chose these two commands because there is no other commandment greater than them. In Matthew 22:40 He added, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus answer impressed the Scribe. He responded by saying “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

This showed that this Scribe had an understanding that went well beyond that of many of his peers in the Sanhedrin. He understood that love…love for both God and others, was more important than even the burnt offering and sacrifices.

His response brought about both a commendation as well as a warning from Jesus, both in one statement. The statement: Next Slide

“You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

This reminds me of the story of John Wesley.

John Wesley was born in 1703, the 15th child of Samuel Wesley who was the pastor of a church, and his wife Susanna, who was a remarkable woman in her own right. His dedication and knowledge of the Scriptures were largely unparalleled by any of his contemporaries. He was ordained as a priest in the church of England in 1728. He set aside an hour each day for private prayer and reflection. He took communion each week, and set himself to conquer every sin. He fasted twice a week, visited prisons, and assisted the poor and sick. Doing all this helped him imagine he was a Christian.

In 1735, still unconverted, he accepted an invitation to become a missionary to the American Indians in Georgia. It was a great fiasco. He utterly failed as a missionary-undergoing miserable conflicts with his colleagues, and almost dying of disease. When he returned to England, he wrote “I went to America to convert the Indians; but, oh, who shall convert me?” His mission experience taught him the wickedness and waywardness of his own heart.

However, not all was lost, because in his travels aboard a ship, he met some German Moravian Christians who’s simple faith made a great impression on him. When he returned to London, he sought out one of their leaders. Through a series of conversations, Wesley’s wrote that he was “clearly convinced of [his] unbelief, of the want of that faith whereby alone we are saved.”

Then on the morning of May 24, 1738, something happened that Wesley would never forget. He opened his Bible haphazardly, and his eyes fell on the text and mark 12:34 “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”Wesley said that the words reassured him. As well they should, because before he went to bed that night, he crossed that invisible line into the kingdom of God. This text was to become Wesley’s life verse, a reminder of the shape of his life for the first 35 years of his existence-“You are not far from the kingdom of God.” It is also part of the final verse of the passage we are looking at in our time this morning.

Beautifully, not only the verse, but it’s setting paraphrase the Lord conversation with a scribe, a lost spiritual leader in the house of Israel, bear remarkable parallels to Wesley’s. Both were spiritual leader. Both were highly educated. Both were Bible scholars who knew the Scriptures inside and out. Both were confronted with Christ, who said to both, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

When a religious individual sees and acknowledges the wickedness of his own sin, it is a great day. Sir James Simpson, the discover of chloroform, used to say that the greatest find he ever made was learning that he was a sinner, and that Jesus Christ was just the Savior he needed. Such a discovery will lead to a casting of one’s self on the mercy of God, and thus receiving the gift of faith, repentance, and salvation.

This is exactly what happened to Wesley. His experiences in America had brought him to the end of himself. Wesley’s honest interchange with the Moravians who witnessed to him brought further conviction of his inner failure.

Finally, it was May 24, 1738, and as Wesley randomly opened his Bible, he read the beautiful statement which in nine words condensed the progress of a spiritual pilgrimage: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

The rest of the story is well known history. Wesley became a dynamo. He preached in churches, he preached in mines, he preached in the fields and on the streets, he preached on horseback, he even preached on his fathers’ tombstone. John Wesley preached 42,000 sermons. He averaged 4500 miles a year. He rode 60 to 70 miles a day and preached three sermons a day on an average. When he was 83, he wrote in his diary, “I am a wonder to myself, I am never tired, either with preaching, riding, or traveling!” Wesley transformed not only the country of England but the frontier of America. (Mark-Volume two-R. Kent Hughes)

If you will notice, in much of Indiana and Illinois as well as other mid-western states, there are, or in some cases were, small little churches every 15 miles. One of the churches that is a part of the history of Liberty Chapel is one such church. Roberts Chapel Methodist Church was a part of the movement that John Wesley began after his conversion. John Wesley, and his circuit riding preaching was imitated by many others in the Methodist movement. If the churches were about 15 miles apart, they could, on horseback preach in three churches on any given day.

So, what are the lessons for us? First, it is entirely possible to have a growth to have grown up in the church, to have consistent, godly parents, and never have come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

Second, is also completely possible to have studied theology and have never become a true Christian. One can know the Scriptures in the original, as Wesley did and still be lost.

Third, it is possible to have heard the grace of Christ preached all your life still be resting on your own goodness.

Fourth, it is possible to become gospel-hardened, and so seal a life headed for an eternity in hell, even within the church.

Fifth it is possible to be within an inch of the kingdom of God, but yet not attain it.

Are you near to the kingdom of God, but not in it? There are times when A single step makes all the difference. Have you made that step?

Let’s close in prayer.